What is an Adjective?/ Definition of an Adjective

An adjective is a word that describes the qualities or quantities of nouns. Some common examples of adjectives include red, sharp, beautiful, etc. They are a part of the speech, modify a noun, and often get placed before a pronoun or a noun.

Types of Adjectives:-

By and large, there are four forms of adjectives, namely:–

Possessive 

As the name suggests, possessive adjectives state ‘belongingness.’ For example, we had a party at my house, where ‘my’ represents possession of the house it belongs to.

Interrogative

Three words are considered interrogative adjectives:’ which, whose, and what.’ Amongst all these, ‘whose’ is also considered a possessive adjective. Also, none of these three words is considered superlative or comparative adjectives. Another common mistake is considering ‘whose’ the same as ‘who’s (who is or who has).’ ‘Whose’ represents ownership and an interrogative adjective. Also, ‘when, where, how, and why are adverbs and shouldn’t be mixed with adjectives.

Demonstrative

Demonstrative adjectives like ‘those, that, this, and these are used to explain the position of someone or something. These four words can also be used as conjunctions, adverbs, and demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative adjectives are usually placed before modifying pronouns and nouns. For example, ‘this basketball is mine.’

Compound

Words like closed-knit, good-looking, busted-nose, etc., are called compound adjectives; however, they may only sometimes be hooked together with a hyphen. You may often find that writers have highlighted compound adjectives by making their font italics or using quotation marks. Such words follow the general rule of adjectives, i.e., written before a pronoun or noun and modifies them. The best practice to state that two or more words are not compound adjectives is to avoid hyphens, italics, or quotation marks. Also, hyphens are often avoided whenever an adverb is modifying an adjective. For example, ‘he was extremely optimistic.’

English grammar also consists of superlative, comparative, predicate, proper, participle, limiting, descriptive, attributive, and distributive adjectives.

Examples of Adjectives:-

• Possessive adjectives include ours, my, and yours; however, many style guides classify them as determiners.
• which, whose, and what are considered interrogative adjectives.
• Demonstrative example, ‘this basketball is mine.’
• Compound adjectives example, ‘he was extremely optimistic.’

Adjective Exercise to practice:-

Highlight the adjectives in each of these sentences:

1. Which of these two movies should I watch first?
2. My father is a colonel in the army.
3. Where can I find a Spanish-speaking teacher in Boston?
4. That doesn’t belong to you.
5. Whose frisbee is this?
6. Did you find my dog?
7. He bought a box full of Irish chocolates.
8. Rohan hates spicy food.

Answers

1. Which of these two movies should I watch first?
2. My father is a colonel in the army.
3. Where can I find a Spanish-speaking teacher in Boston?
4. That doesn’t belong to you.
5. Whose frisbee is this?
6. Did you find my dog?
7. He bought a box full of Irish chocolates.
8. Rohan hates spicy food.